Voting Day

For 5 states today, it is voting day. A sort of Super Tuesday revisited. And that’s both wonderful and scary. It’s wonderful because it’s finally MY state involved (and my husband and I are preparing to vote and visit my parents) but it’s scary because not enough people from the ages of 18-30 are voting today.

I’m not dismissing anyone over the age of 30 at ALL. In fact, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that “y’all” know what voting means, and the implications thereof. I know that’s a scary generalization, but I just mean that if you are over the age of 30 and do not understand that voting affects your life, you’ve just become an honorary young person. (I wish that meant something better. In this case, it might not!)

You see, according to the U.S. census, only 38% of people ages 18-24 voted in 2012. People ages 25-44 rang in at 49.5%. And the thing is, we are some of the people that politics affect most! We are the poor, the struggling, the college kids, the working families, the frustrated. We are the people who have the power to change everything and only about a quarter of (my age demographic) us are taking it seriously!

(This picture is courtesy of me! I did the screenshot thing!)

It’s more than just that though. As younger people, we are prone to feeling strongly, without having access to all of the information before. For example: I may feel strongly about abortion cases without knowing the history of them. Or I may feel strongly about one party without having been alive to witness the precedents that that party made 20 or 30 years prior. And we may not always fully understand all of the implications. We just know that we’re upset and something needs done.

So I guess the important thing to focus on today, is to 1. Vote. And 2. Maybe you should do some research before November about the two candidates left, and make your decisions. Because these “pre-votings” (primaries) are REALLY important, but ultimately they lead up to November, where everything matters.